Rosberg's gone, so who takes his seat?

Current world champion Nico Rosberg announced his retirement a few days ago now.

With attention now turned away from the fact that he won’t stick around and defend his title, the real question is looking at all fans of Formula One straight in the face. Rosberg’s gone, so who’s going to sit in that number two car next year?

With the talent and depth that the current grid has to offer, there are quite a few drivers that could take the seat, starting with none other than Pascal Wehrlein.

Pascal is, at least for me, the number one choice for Mercedes. The potential is there, he’s been a great driver for Manor this year who showed that he could make it even at the pinnacle of motorsport, and if there is anything that I could say about him, it’s that he doesn’t deserve to stay at Manor for next season.

From this, you could definitely say that he’s a top quality choice for Mercedes, but let’s stop for a moment and evaluate the cons. There aren’t many, to be honest, but I can for sure think of one big issue, that being a lack of experience in Formula One.

Most Formula One teams near the top of the table, such as Mercedes, Red Bull, or Ferrari, will go for more experienced, reliable drivers with reputations that had been built upon for years, and Wehrlein doesn’t quite fit into this category.

Despite that, he will definitely take the seat. He certainly shouldn’t wait out another season at Manor next year, it’s a huge waste of talent, and Mercedes would be lucky to have him on the team.

Ok, let’s move on to someone else. The four-time world champion himself – Sebastian Vettel.

After an incredibly disappointing season this year that had us building up with anticipation for the first race of the season, only to have us realise that Ferrari were still far off the pace of the Silver Arrows, I think that Vettel might just be looking for an escape route.

Now yes, I know, it’s an honour to be driving in the prestigious colours of red.

Vettel would be shaken from the season, whether that be from having no race wins to his name, or many podiums for that matter, or being overtaken in the constructors by a team he left in hopes of winning another championship.

So, there are the obvious pros to having Vettel as a driver, but there are a few cons. Vettel has become outspoken and full up with anger at many times this season, something that can hurt team’s reputations, as well as Vettel lacking momentum, which played a crucial role in his almighty streak of four championships in a row.

Also, Hamilton and Vettel would be very feisty teammates, and I personally think those two together would rip that team to shreds.

Now we’ve covered Vettel, let’s cover another great driver of today: Fernando Alonso.

I know everyone would love to see Hamilton versus Alonso: The Sequel, but I really don’t think it will happen.

I don’t need to tell you all that Alonso is an expert driver. You know it just as well as I do that if you give that man any car he will do a job in it that will exceed the potential of the car, such as his season at McLaren this season.

However, after all the success Mercedes has had over the past few years, they would be very hesitant to give Alonso a seat next to Lewis, for obvious reasons, even if tensions may have settled down between the two.

My last option is none other than the Williams driver himself, Valtteri Bottas.

He’s, in my opinion, one of the most underrated drivers in Formula One, he is completely away from any drama in the paddock, cool-headed, intelligent, and a part of the Wolff management team. So why not?

To be honest, I don’t really know. The only reason I can think of is that he isn’t a popular face of F1, something I’m sure Mercedes would want for marketing purposes.

So, before I wrap up the article, you’re probably wondering, “Sam. Why aren’t any Red Bull drivers on this list?”

I thought about Max Verstappen or Dan Ricciardo being on the list, and I’ll tell you what. There is no way in hell that Christian Horner would let them go until their contracts run out.

They have the best driver line-up in F1, and Red Bull will do everything they can to ensure that stays the same.

I can’t see into the future, but I can’t wait to hear what Mercedes do.

I’ll give my thoughts on that as soon as I hear the news, but for now?